Alta Journal

Alta Journal Alta Journal is a quarterly magazine celebrating and examining California and the West.

Alta Journal, launched in Fall 2017, is a magazine, website and series of events that will provide a fresh, smart, literate take on the issues, culture, personalities, politics, lifestyle and history of California. Alta’s quarterly magazine features some of the state’s best writers, photographers and illustrators.

Today, John Freeman looks at Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World by Tosh Berman. In this essay, he examines what ...
13/01/2026

Today, John Freeman looks at Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World by Tosh Berman. In this essay, he examines what happens when the domestic, the familial, and the child are brought back into the frame of art.

Read it now via the link below.

13/01/2026

Author of Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World, Tosh Berman, shares his favorite living authors. Unfortunately, the event with Berman has been cancelled, but we hope you enjoyed reading this impactful memoir.

From jazz to folk to punk, there's something for everyone in our new music issue. Dive into a collection of stories and ...
13/01/2026

From jazz to folk to punk, there's something for everyone in our new music issue.

Dive into a collection of stories and essays on how California got its sound and what tunes will define the state for all time. Link in comments to browse our latest issue. 🎵🎶🎙️


Los Angeles, this one is for you. Writer Mike Sonksen offers a moving reflection on resilience, community, and environme...
13/01/2026

Los Angeles, this one is for you. Writer Mike Sonksen offers a moving reflection on resilience, community, and environmental justice in the face of climate disasters. Link in comments.

In today’s California Book Club newsletter, novelist Jim Krusoe reflects on the artist’s life through Tosh: Growing Up i...
13/01/2026

In today’s California Book Club newsletter, novelist Jim Krusoe reflects on the artist’s life through Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World by Tosh Berman—a memoir about curiosity, enthusiasm, and creative joy.

While this week’s event has been canceled due to illness, we hope you’ve enjoyed spending time with this remarkable book alongside us.

Read the full newsletter at the link below.

In moments like this, history sharpens our perspective.Dive back into Walton Muyumba’s analysis of Bad Mexicans, as Kell...
12/01/2026

In moments like this, history sharpens our perspective.

Dive back into Walton Muyumba’s analysis of Bad Mexicans, as Kelly Lytle Hernández traces resistance, revolution, and white supremacy across the U.S.–Mexico border.

Read more through the link below.

Before they were an institution, they were a house band for a $100-a-week experiment in consciousness. In late 1965, a n...
12/01/2026

Before they were an institution, they were a house band for a $100-a-week experiment in consciousness. In late 1965, a newly renamed Grateful Dead took the stage at the Muir Beach Tavern for an Acid Test that would change the West Coast psychedelic scene forever.

From Owsley Stanley’s harrowing first encounter with Jerry Garcia’s "tiger claw" guitar to the "pearly early dawn" conversations about the future, discover the night the "Deadworld" was born.

Read the full story of the night the music moved into the future. Link in the comments.

12/01/2026

Our January 2026 pick is here! Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World by Tosh Berman is the California Book Club selection—learn about Berman's process of writing his memoir here.

In a series of letters sent between Frankfurt and San Diego during the tumult of the late 1960s, German intellectuals Th...
12/01/2026

In a series of letters sent between Frankfurt and San Diego during the tumult of the late 1960s, German intellectuals Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse debated protest tactics, “left fascism,” and the use of force to maintain social order.

A half century later, their arguments still resonate amid the unrest sweeping the United States. Link in comments to read more.


When the followers of Carlos Castaneda—known as the chacmools—dedicated their lives to him, they gave up their names and...
12/01/2026

When the followers of Carlos Castaneda—known as the chacmools—dedicated their lives to him, they gave up their names and families for his promise of eternal life. But when Castaneda died, several of them never returned to their previous lives. Who were these women, why were they drawn to him, and where did they go?

Geoffrey Gray investigates these women in "The Case of the Missing Chacmools." Link in comments.

Kristen Martin reviews American Reich by Eric Lichtblau, a searing examination of how Blaze Bernstein’s murder fits into...
12/01/2026

Kristen Martin reviews American Reich by Eric Lichtblau, a searing examination of how Blaze Bernstein’s murder fits into a broader resurgence of white supremacy and violent bigotry.
Read the full review at the link below.

What if your home could grow food, catch rainwater, and run on sun and wind—while staying comfortable in the desert?Meet...
11/01/2026

What if your home could grow food, catch rainwater, and run on sun and wind—while staying comfortable in the desert?

Meet the Earthship, and the renegade architect behind it: Michael Reynolds. Julia Scheeres reports on his 50-year quest to make off-grid living real (and scalable).

📸 by Kate Russell

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The Journal of Alta California, launched in Fall 2017, is a magazine, website and series of events that will provide a fresh, smart, literate take on the issues, culture, personalities, politics, lifestyle and history of California. Alta’s quarterly magazine will feature some of the state’s best writers, photographers and illustrators, and its website, AltaOnline.com, will be a daily guide to the best writing about the state from Alta and other sources.